Telecommuting is the substitution of telecommunications technology for the trip to and from the primary workplace. Computers, cellular phones, voice messaging, fax machines, and advanced communications links such as Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and dial-up access have removed the barriers that once required workers to be in their offices. Telecommuting applies to employees working at home, employees working from a satellite office, and employees working "on the road".
The potential advantages of telecommuting are numerous and varied. Beyond the obvious advantages such as reduced rush hour traffic and enhanced air quality, there are a number of less obvious advantages such as increased employee productivity and expanded geographic range. Additionally, total office space requirements can be reduced when employees work at home, satellite offices can be established with lower overhead and are possible in areas that would have been geographically prohibitive, and emergency preparedness is improved through the decentralization of resources.
The Local-Area Network (LAN) is fast becoming the technology backbone of today's offices, since more and more computing and information resources are based on the LAN. Office workers who come to rely on easy LAN access need the same kind of access when they are working away from the office.
While electronic mail grows in popularity, the telephone and accompanying voice messaging systems are still a necessary part of the modern business environment. Computer and telephone systems are being linked through Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) applications which facilitate incoming and outgoing call handling and control.
CTI applications can be used to seamlessly interface the caller, the called party, and information on a host computer for a variety of applications. CTI applications deliver caller ID, automatic number identification (ANI), dialed number identification services (DNIS), and interactive voice response (IVR) dialed digits, such as a customer's account number, to a software application. CTI applications can also deliver request signals, such as "hold call" or "transfer call", to a telephone system.
Numerous prior art systems allow employees to access a Local Area Network via a remote dialup. Once connected they can access most of the resources of the LAN as if they were in the office. However, since the telephone they are using is not part of the office phone system they are cut off from the bulk of the CTI application functions they have available to them at the office. Some systems may allow them to listen to voice mail, however they are no longer able to use any applications which require them to have access to a telephone connected to the office telephone system. Other prior art systems allow employees to remotely access voice messaging and set call forwarding through the use of Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) tones from a touch tone phone.
In most prior art systems, the lack of integration between a company's telephone system and LAN means that an employee has to call in to the company's phone system to check their voice messaging, manually set call forwarding, and then remotely log on to the company's LAN. After call forwarding is set up, people calling the employee will have lost the ability to leave voice messaging or the employee will have to continue to call in to check their voice messaging. After logging off the LAN, the employee must remember to call into the company's telephone system to discontinue call forwarding. Furthermore, there are numerous telephone systems which do not even afford this level of connectivity, which in turn makes telecommuting a less viable alternative.
In order for a company and its employees to obtain the fullest benefit from telecommuting, communications between telecommuting employees, the primary office, and the outside world must be managed efficiently. The management of telecommunications resources extends to telephone and data communications alike. There is a need for a telecommunications management system which closely integrates a company's LAN with its telephone network and makes the same CTI application functions available to an employee whether they are in the office or working from a remote location.
The present invention closely integrates a company's LAN with its telephone network and controls call forwarding based upon user activity on an associated computer terminal. The present invention extends the functionality of the office telephone system to whatever phone the employee has available at a remote location.